Daytona expands temporary vending during biker events

It will be the first time since the 1990s any business other than the Speedway has been allowed to have itinerant vendors fronting International Speedway Boulevard.

EILEEN ZAFFIRO-KEANSTAFF WRITER

DAYTONA BEACH — For the first time ever, a Midtown business fronting International Speedway Boulevard will be allowed to have an itinerant vendor during Bike Week and Biketoberfest. It will also be the first time since the 1990s any business other than Daytona International Speedway has been allowed to have itinerant vendors on its property fronting International Speedway Boulevard. The landmark change came Wednesday night from a split decision of city commissioners, four who supported the shift in policy and three who did not. City commissioners Rob Gilliland, Carl Lentz, Paula Reed and Patrick Henry all voted to support expanding itinerant, or temporary, vending into a new area of town. Those voting against it included new Mayor Derrick Henry, and commissioners Pam Woods and Kelly White. “Midtown has lost enough business and we’ve been at a disadvantage long enough,” Hemis Ivey, chairman of the city’s Midtown Redevelopment Board, told commissioners before they voted.“It’ll make people stop and spend money in a blighted area.” City Commissioner Gilliland said "I see struggling businesses that need help.'' For the 2013 Bike Week, only one business will be able to take advantage of the new right to host the traveling salespeople who peddle everything from T-shirts to turkey legs along the stretch of ISB between Keech Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. That’s because of a deadline for the 10-day biker party that’s usually held in late February or early March, and only that one business submitted a complete application on time. The Midtown businesses that are out of luck for Bike Week, however, will be able to apply for Biketoberfest, which will be held in October 2013. Even though Custom Works, a motorcycle sales and repair shop, will be the only ISB business able to take advantage of the new right for next year’s Bike Week, and even though commissioners will decide in a year whether to end the experiment, the change still didn’t sit well with some commissioners and with a few beachside businesses owners. "I consider what we’re doing a discriminatory business practice,'' said Woods, who asked top city staff at the meeting pointed questions about the rules for which streets get picked and which don’t. “It’s been a sore subject for people who have businesses on A1A,” said Paul Politis, owner of Gator Beach & Sport on State Road A1A, where itinerant vending is not allowed even though it is permitted a few blocks away on Main Street. “You’re setting up an unfair advantage.” “If you’re going to expand it, expand it to everyone,” agreed fellow S.R. A1A business owner Tim Kostidakis. Cathy Washington, a member of the city’s Planning Board, told commissioners she didn’t see the harm in allowing what could eventually amount to a handful of businesses bringing in itinerant vendors for a few days. But Politis argued the city is allowing out-of-town vendors to drive out of Daytona Beach with millions of dollars that should go to local businesses. Itinerant vending only seems to damage the business districts where it’s allowed, Kostidakis said. "We’ve lost buildings so people can get vacant land'' for itinerant vending, said Kostidakis, owner of Beach Bazaar. Back when itinerant vending was allowed at most any business on ISB in the 1980s and 1990s, it stretched from the Interstate 95 overpass east to Clyde Morris Boulevard, and it was hard to miss. “It was all along the corridor, both sides,” Politis, a longtime Daytona Beach resident, said in an interview before Wednesday’s meeting. “It was horrific looking. There were oddball tents, tables and handmade signs.” A little more than 10 years ago, the city started taking a new approach with itinerant vending and pulled it off International Speedway Boulevard ISB everywhere except the race track. Instead the city chose a half-dozen places struggling with blight where the vendors were allowed to sell their wares. Those temporary vendor operations have since been allowed on Main Street and Fairview Avenue from the ocean to Beach Street; Beach Street from Bay Street to Fairview Avenue; Ballough Road from Fairview Avenue to Mason Avenue; Mary McLeod Bethune Boulevard from Segrave Avenue to Martin Luther King Boulevard; Mary McLeod Bethune Boulevard from Beach Street to Palmetto Avenue; and Martin Luther King Boulevard from Shady Place to George Engram Boulevard. The idea has been to give those economically challenged areas a boost a few times a year, city officials have said. But one beachside resident who’s impacted every time the motorcycles roll into town told city commissioners in an email she sent Tuesday that “all kinds of low-lifes who follow events crawl around my neighborhood.” “Are the community redevelopment areas going to become tent cities with homemade signs, beer swilling contests, questionable partying styles and merchandise sold with gross slogans about Daytona Beach for the whole world to see?‘ wrote Weegie Kuendig, who worries about her property value and the cost of special events to taxpayers.